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seeker
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| Posted: March 28 2011 at 8:30am | IP Logged
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organization?  Or maybe yard sales? 
I should preface this by saying I'm not sure I've picked the right forum for this topic...
My DH decided he'd make a deal with me: If I can get our garage cleaned out and all the "stuff" sold by July, then I could hs this fall.
This is so daunting to me because we are way out in the country and I just don't know how a yard sale would do. I'm praying for the grace to get this thing organized in a few weeks, so that for the things that don't sell in the yard sale, I can get pics and put them on LSN (a kind of Craigslist for our area), which I've never used before. I know I have a few things that I should put on ebay (Snowbabies), but I've never done that either...
Do any of you have any advice? Actually, now that I think about it, I've never even done a yard sale on my own. I always had neighbors to join up with when we lived in the city  Sheesh, I'm really nervous about this. Isn't that silly?
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SeaStar
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| Posted: March 28 2011 at 8:46am | IP Logged
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St. Francis!!
He sold all his possessions and turned his back on worldly things.
He guarded himself against having too many possessions.
I often ask his help in letting go of *things* so I have more room for my real treasure on earth... my family. 
ETA: Serious garage salers will find you, especially if you advertise low prices, must go, clearing out, no offer refused, etc. When I have a sale, I never bother with individually pricing every item. I just label boxes or tables as "everything is a fifty cents" or "everything is a dollar". And I never refuse an offer.... but my goal is always to pass things on and get them out of my house. If someone wants to pay me to help, that is great, even a quarter!
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Betsy
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| Posted: March 28 2011 at 8:48am | IP Logged
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Do you have craigslist in your area? I find it quite a bit more effective at selling and buying than garage sales.
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seeker
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| Posted: March 28 2011 at 8:54am | IP Logged
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Thanks Melinda!
Betsy, we had craigslist where I used to live, but no one here uses it. Everyone here uses LSN.
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Mackfam
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| Posted: March 28 2011 at 9:14am | IP Logged
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Patron saint of...
seeker wrote:
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St. Martha is the patron saint of homemakers and housewives, along with many other service oriented patronages.  She's one of my favorites and I highly recommend her prayerful help!!! Her Feast is July 29, which fits with your July goal.
And if you're rural, you can either advertise in the newspaper about your yard sale (some people are very serious about yard-saling and will come no matter where you are) or list things on Craigslist (or other similar venue), which we've had really good luck with. A word of caution with Craigslist or offering personal items for sale via online service - offer for exchange of goods/property at a neutral location if at all possible.
Good luck decluttering.
St. Martha, pray for all of us that seek to be pleasing, happy homemakers! May our acts of service in the home never prevent us from choosing the better part!
Amen!
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Jen Mackintosh
Wife to Rob, mom to dd 19 , ds 16, ds 11, dd 8, and dd 3
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Betsy
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| Posted: March 28 2011 at 9:20am | IP Logged
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Seeker,
I apologize for not fully reading your question. 
I would really try to discern why you want to have a garage sale. I have found that by time you organize all the stuff you want to sell, price it, advertise, etc. you might be better served by donating it and taking the tax write off. In my life, time is $$$ and it takes a lot of time/work to have a garage sale.
Some other consideration might be consignment shops for a few nice things or your LSN?
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JennGM
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| Posted: March 28 2011 at 9:34am | IP Logged
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I want the things out of the door, so I do a trip to Salvation Army or Goodwill and just get it all out at one time. It's a donation, and my house is clean. I don't have time or energy for reselling or doing things by dribs and drabs.
I would only pick a few bigger ticket items to sell online, otherwise, make a big swoop.
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Jennifer G. Miller
Wife to  & ds1  '03 & ds2  '07
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Mackfam
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| Posted: March 28 2011 at 9:35am | IP Logged
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Betsy wrote:
| I have found that by time you organize all the stuff you want to sell, price it, advertise, etc. you might be better served by donating it |
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Oh, I totally agree with Betsy here!!! When we declutter and I choose whether or not something stays, it has been a blessing for us (me especially) to consider that while a certain item (group of items) may not work for us or be beneficial to our family, it could bless another family, and by donating it to a thrift store I can make that item as accessible to a local family as possible. Now, I know that doesn't earn you any extra cash, and as Betsy says, you and your dh can discern how best to proceed there, but donating and considering that passing something along freely helps us all with detachment to items. So, we do two things when we approach a major declutter
1) Donate large piles/bags of small items to local charity organizations. This saves time in trying to price/sell.
2) If we have big ticket items, we have listed them on online selling services, but there have been some times that I just donate it all. Charity services often have big trucks and will come pick up if you call them!!! This is such a HUGE HELP and feeling of satisfaction - you go through the rooms of the house, pile it all up in the garage, and call and they come pick it up and take it away. DONE! SUCCESS!
Just tagging onto Betsy's thought for your consideration!
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Jen Mackintosh
Wife to Rob, mom to dd 19, ds 16, ds 11, dd 8, and dd 3
Wildflowers and Marbles
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: March 28 2011 at 12:18pm | IP Logged
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Is there an organization around there that hosts a large garage sale that would take everything? Like our church usually has a yard sale, no clothes though. But the high school band had a sale not long ago and I bet they would have taken donations of items to sell from people not in the band.
Is there anyone you could approach that lives in town about sharing a yard sale? or even just borrowing their driveway for one?
My personal philosophy is if it goes in a yard sale it doesn't come back in the house.. so even if I did a yard sale, I have to have ways to donate, recycle or trash the stuff that's left. But I also use that philosophy in a yard sale and price accordingly. I'd rather sell clothes for $1 a plastic grocery bag and have MORE leave than sell by the item and having people really considering and picking over what they might take otherwise.
Also, if you're stuck having the yard sale out of town.. ADVERTISE.. get it in the newspaper with good directions, if you're not so good at it, ask your dh, or someone else. And get good big signs out from the main roads in town and out to your place so that people will feel like they're definately getting to the right place.. if there's an especially long stretch with no turns.. a sign that just points ahead in the same direction can keep people coming out because they know they're going the right way.
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TxTrish
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| Posted: March 28 2011 at 4:51pm | IP Logged
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JennGM wrote:
I want the things out of the door, so I do a trip to Salvation Army or Goodwill and just get it all out at one time. It's a donation, and my house is clean. I don't have time or energy for reselling or doing things by dribs and drabs.
I would only pick a few bigger ticket items to sell online, otherwise, make a big swoop. |
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AMEN! This is what I do, and recommend.
And I usually do Salvation Army, they pick up.
And will send an empty truck if you tell them you have a monster load of stuff for them.
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seeker
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| Posted: March 29 2011 at 2:17am | IP Logged
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Thanks Jen, Jenn, and Betsy.
We did donate just about everything before we moved. We had to relocate quickly because we were transferred (not military, just Dh's job). We also don't take tax write offs for donations .
Part of the deal Dh made with me is that I wouldn't just give the stuff away. And now that I think about it, it might cost me a lot to do that. We don't have any charities that would come out here to do a pick up, so I'd be making multiple trips in my little car  . I did this when we lived in the city and the Catholic charity store was about 4 miles from our house, but out here...
JodieLyn wrote:
| Is there anyone you could approach that lives in town about sharing a yard sale? or even just borrowing their driveway for one? |
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I don't know of anyone who lives in town, it is so small - three traffic lights, actually there are only 4 traffic lights in the whole county! But that makes me think: there are 2 main roads in town and they each have a storage unit facility on them. People here will store their stuff and every year just pull their stuff out and have a "yard" sale (as in M-S, every week) in the parking lot. Hmmm...
JodieLyn wrote:
| ...I also use that philosophy in a yard sale and price accordingly. I'd rather sell clothes for $1 a plastic grocery bag and have MORE leave than sell by the item and having people really considering and picking over what they might take otherwise. |
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Thanks for the tip! I was thinking a price per bag might be a good idea but didn't know what would be a good price.
JodieLyn wrote:
| Also, if you're stuck having the yard sale out of town.. ADVERTISE.. get it in the newspaper with good directions, if you're not so good at it, ask your dh, or someone else. And get good big signs out from the main roads in town and out to your place so that people will feel like they're definitely getting to the right place.. if there's an especially long stretch with no turns.. a sign that just points ahead in the same direction can keep people coming out because they know they're going the right way. |
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Thanks! I will be putting it in the paper. I'll just have to remember to get it in on time - there is only one paper per week. The directions are simple enough, just several long stretches. Honestly, though, I think everyone knows where we live. When we first moved here we (especially Dh since he works in the public) actually had people come up to us and tell us where we live ; I've had people ask me if I still have "that purple bathroom." (I don't ); and they can tell us everyone who ever lived in the house. It's more than a little strange and disconcerting, but I guess that's how it is in the country?
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: March 29 2011 at 12:17pm | IP Logged
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That is how it is in the country  .. and my it sounds like you live in an identical town to mine except the 3 traffic lights in town are the only three in the county. We've figured out that it takes not much more than 24 hrs for any news to get around town and back to us the one newspaper a week.. yep. sounds just like here.
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Jodie, wife to Dave
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All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
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seeker
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| Posted: March 29 2011 at 11:01pm | IP Logged
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Wow, Jodie! I don't live anywhere close to Oregon, but it sounds just like you could be living next door!
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mommy4ever
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Seeker,
we use a Kijiji here(free classifies) Great response from it, you may want to see if there is one nearby.
I did a huge clean up here a year or so a go with the help of an online class. It was amazing the difference it made, and it gave great tools to maintain and keep moving forward with it. If you want, I'd be happy to post a link.
Good luck with the adventure of organizing!
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4Real Forums : Planning and Ordering our Days
Topic: Is there a patron saint of...
